All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about the horrors and the atrophies of war. It takes place during World War I and involves the terrors of trench warfare. This tale follows the soldiers as they battle and live along the front, while watching their friends die beside them. This novel draws attention to the characters and puts a "face" to all of the soldiers that died in the war. Alongside the tales of damage by the war and the decay of generation and values, this novel shows important themes. Paul Baumer, a 20-year old German soldier, demonstrates one of these themes. He expresses the ideas of friendship even in the face of death. Through the entire unspeakable dreadfulness, Paul Baumer shows the reader that friendship relieves through his kindness, his care, and his comradeship toward his fellow soldiers.
             Paul Baumer shows that friendship relieves through his kindness. In Chapter 4, the older soldiers are teaching the new recruits the sounds of war. The recruits learn the differences between guns and the ways to react in specific situations. The night becomes a bombardment and turns into chaos. Paul provides a bright light in a place of such terrible darkness when a recruit becomes gun-shy. The young soldier crawls over to our protagonist and puts his head into Paul's arms and chest. With his kind and gentle words, Paul comforts this man and tells him that he will get used to this bloody battle. It was
             only his first battle, after all. Paul reassures him, "Many's the man before you has had his pants full after the first bombardment. Go behind that bush there and throw your underpants away. Get along----" (62).
             Secondly, Paul Baumer cares, as seen in Chapter 5, also shows that friendship relieves. In this chapter, there is a scene of affection and closeness between the protagonist and Kat, a 40-year veteran that is a father figure to Paul. They go after and hunt a goose,
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